I think there is something else to this. Obviously you as a parent and as a reader have placed a value on reading. I don't think there is anything wrong with having a contest that places value on reading if everyone participating is rewarded equally. I think that may be a better approach. If you want to instill a message that says reading is valuable(I believe it is) then I applaud that.
When I was growing up, reading was not very valuable. My parents read the paper on a daily basis but rarely cracked a book outside of that. I didn't get the reading bug until 9th grade where I had the choice of selecting a "literature" course. I chose Myth & Fantasy where I was introduced into a realm of gods, nymphs, dryads and hobbits. I hated geometry and chose instead to read during class rather than prove theorems. I'm glad I did because that has led me to continue to read for pleasure. Out of my siblings I am the ONLY one who reads for pleasure and outside of assigned reading. I almost missed the best boat in life.
Your story reminds me how I benefitted immensely from having parents who are avid readers. It was a common sight in my house to have mom on the couch reading fantasy, dad in his chair reading sci-fi and me on the floor reading horror or comics.
It is good and important to model the behaviors you wish from children. I don't know that every child has to love books and reading. I think functional literacy and basic text analysis is probably enough.
Just because it's my value, and I am the child and grandchild of avid readers, does not make reading-for-pleasure intrinsically better than other hobbies.
Well, we treat it like it is subculturally, and the subculture is one in which we spend almost all of our time. How much that means about broader cultural groups' privileging of pleasure-reading, I don't know. It may well be that what we think of as overpraised is still substantially underpraised in a larger average population.
Good point. I think culture at large may still use reading-for-pleasure as a marker of class/status/something, but it is much more subculturally valuable as sort of a tribal marker or something.
When I was growing up, reading was not very valuable. My parents read the paper on a daily basis but rarely cracked a book outside of that. I didn't get the reading bug until 9th grade where I had the choice of selecting a "literature" course. I chose Myth & Fantasy where I was introduced into a realm of gods, nymphs, dryads and hobbits. I hated geometry and chose instead to read during class rather than prove theorems. I'm glad I did because that has led me to continue to read for pleasure. Out of my siblings I am the ONLY one who reads for pleasure and outside of assigned reading. I almost missed the best boat in life.
Reply
Second generation geek ftw!
Reply
Just because it's my value, and I am the child and grandchild of avid readers, does not make reading-for-pleasure intrinsically better than other hobbies.
We just treat it like it is, culturally.
Reply
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment